£1 July 2020 - Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon
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July 2020
£1
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Holy Trinity Team
This edition contains news from Tom and Verity Clare, the
Mission Partners we are helping to support in Uganda, an
article about hospices and about a bike ride.
There are no Worship Notes this month as we await further
developments in the guidelines at the time of going to Revd. Patrick Taylor
press. Meanwhile our online offering continues on Vicar
Facebook and You Tube so please do join us there.
Editor - Revd Patrick Taylor
Design Editor - Felicity Howlett
Features Editor - Judith Dorricott
Associate Editor - Anthony Woollard
Subscriptions & Distribution - Carole Askew and
Paul Lageu
Advertising - Karen Hollis
Email: karen@klpbookkeeping.co.uk
PCC Representative - Ruth Poulten
Revd. Steve Jarvis
Remember we love to receive articles and photographs for
Associate Vicar
the magazine which can be sent to the e-mail address below.
However, we reserve the right to edit anything that is sent to
us and the editor’s decision is final.
Please note that views expressed in Trinity Times are those of
the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the
Parochial Church Council.
The next magazine will be the August 2020 edition
The copy date is 17 July
If any item is left until the very last minute, or received
after the copy date, there is no guarantee that it will be able
to be included in the magazine.
Please send any contributions of articles or pictures as Revd. Kay Dyer
attachments to: Associate Priest
timestrinity@gmail.com
For any questions regarding the distribution of Trinity Times
please contact:
Paul Lageu (01789 298 302) or
paullageu@hotmail.co.uk
#HolyTrinityonsocialmedia
Front cover :- “Calm amidst Covid” - photograph by Andrew Dow.
With no boats the river is unusually quiet. The church speaks for itself.
Phil Harper
3 Children & Families Minister
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT RACE
I imagine that many of us have been thinking about what “white privilege” means, as the anti-racism
movement gathered remarkable momentum around the world, including peaceful protests here in
Stratford-upon-Avon. In his book “We need to talk about race”, Ben Lindsay
looks at the experience of black people in churches in the UK that are
majority white. He makes the point that whilst many white people are not
actively racist, they do “often struggle to acknowledge the privileges that
come with their whiteness or perhaps have simply never considered them.
Privileges such as not worrying about what to wear because you're not going
to be racially profiled by the police or be a victim of mistaken identity …
privileges like seeing people who look like you in the highest employment
and leadership positions. ” White privilege is an absence of the consequences
of racism, an absence of a lifetime of subtle marginalisation.
For those of us who are white, being aware of the privileges we have
received does not need to be an exercise in feeling guilty. It's about having
our eyes wide open to the fact that opportunities and doors that have been
open to us are sometimes not available to people of colour. It means
acknowledging the ways in which we have benefited from the lack of such prejudice.
When the Church of England is accused of being racist it’s natural to want to stand up for ourselves
and say, “no we’re not!” We recall Galatians 3. 26-28: “ for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God
through faith. As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female;
for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” But we do have to acknowledge the experiences of people of
colour in the church. When I was on a gap year in Slough before going to university (it’s a long story)
I found that there were many more black people attending the local Methodist church compared to
the parish church. When I asked if there was a reason for this I was told ‘When our families, who
were practising Anglicans, came here in the 1950’s, we naturally went to the local parish church.
However, they seemed suspicious of us and were not very accommodating, whereas the Methodists
were much more welcoming, so that’s where we stayed.”
Several months ago we began a process of moving towards Holy Trinity being recognised as an
‘Inclusive Church’ which means we celebrate and affirm every person, not discriminating against
people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning
disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. I hope and pray that the momentum generated
by the current protests will spur us on with this and remind us of our common identity with others,
including those who differ from us, through baptism. It may also help those of us who do not
experience regular discrimination to realise how privileged we are.
Photo: Harry Lomax
The Black Lives Matter protest in
Stratford on 12 June.
Photo: Mark Williamson/Stratford Herald
4
Revd Steve Jarvis’ sermon from Trinity Sunday.
Readings: 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13 & Matthew 28: 16-20
We have, as you have heard, two very short readings for today. And it unnerves me when the gospel
reading for the day is only four verses. It looks deliberately like proof texting— as though the
lectionary is setting a trap inviting a sermon on the Doctrine of the Trinity rather than the text of the
Gospel.
Well, I’m going to side-step the trap, and I do so deliberately, because this is such an important text in
the context of Matthew's gospel. And the danger is always that its use on Trinity Sunday leads to too
much focus on its tenuous links with the Trinity. Because we forget that Matthew’s gospel was written
long before a Doctrine of the Trinity was initially formulated in 3rd century by Tertullian.
The gospel reading is the concluding words of Matthew’s Gospel, the last summing up. It is also part
of the account following the resurrection of Jesus; that is these words are the consequence of the death
and resurrection of Jesus. The words are also given to us immediately after the writer’s account of the
attempted cover up of the resurrection event by the Jewish authorities which is so often overlooked.
The story of the guards is not a story to be ignored!
Matthew 28: 11-15
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that
had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum
of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away
while we were asleep.’ If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of
trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed.
Here we have a brief description of two communities after the resurrection. Each has its authority, its
commissioning, its set of values, its encouragements.
But the story of the guards is the dark mirror image of the resurrection story of Jesus and the eleven.
Guards report to priests and elders who hold the governor to be the highest authority in the land,
instruct the guards to spread a lie, and give the guards money to encourage their obedience in the
deceit.
These two clusters of people at the end of the gospel represent possibilities set before the reader: Of
which of these two communities do you wish to be a member? Which of these two appeals to you or
describes you? Do you take your stand with the guards gathered with the priests and elders in
Jerusalem, or with the eleven gathered with Jesus in Galilee?
And though reflecting the truth of what actually happened, the community who gather on the
mountain top, the place of God and the place of the giving of the life that is God's law, is no perfect
community.
Jesus chose twelve disciples as a symbol of a renewed Israel; a new twelve tribes. And already that
community through Judas’ suicide, is broken and imperfect. Only eleven disciples gather.
The Gospel does not show us a perfect church above the rest of the world. Instead, the Gospel
reminds us of that ongoing invitation to disciple ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus instead of under
the lordship of the principalities and powers which claim all authority on heaven and earth in our
small part of the world. And the Gospel passage issues the important perpetual question: Who is your
Lord?
As we have seen this past few weeks, be it Bishops receiving death threats for their condemnation of
Dominic Cummings’ breaking of lockdown guidance, or Donald Trump’s contrived photo opportunity
with Bible in hand, in front of St John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, after being violently
cleared of largely peaceful protesters, the relationship between faith and politics again invites scrutiny.
And the perpetual question of “who is your Lord?”, remains a timely one.
cont…..
5
Steve’s Sermon cont…..
Through domestication of the Gospel by an over-emphasis on individual sin and behaviour, we have
taken our eyes off the reality that political allegiance is at the heart of the Christian faith. Christianity
is not a feel-good religion, but a faith-based political movement. Every time we say Jesus is Lord, and
chose not to recognise the “Caesars”; every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, and pray for God’s kingdom
to come on earth, as it is in heaven, we are vocally advocating for political regime change against the
principalities and powers that presently control politics, governance, the wheels of justice, and
economics among the nations.
Though at the best of times, we impart a limited lordship to the nation and its laws, as Christians, Jesus
should always claim a greater Lordship; as "all authority in heaven and on earth" has been given to him.
In these current times of pandemic and social unrest, it is very evident that many leaders, governments
and political parties across the world, have departed far from the spirit of the law of the land, and from
the aspiration of a fair go for all people, to further empower the interests and maintain the privilege of a
certain portion of the population. The weak, the poor, the powerless, and especially in the West, those
Black and minority ethnic, in their experience of social justice are all being exploited in this process.
Across developed nations, we witness major political parties seeking not to represent the people —
despite all their claims — but seeking to gain enough favour to maintain hold of the power. They are like
the priests who held a privileged position under the Roman overlords. And like the priests, lying,
intrigue, bribes, cover-ups and self interest, are too often the currency of their politicking.
Yet who is the Lord who has been given "all authority in heaven and on earth?"
It is bad taste to be overtly party political in church. But to not speak of politics is to abdicate our trust
and faith in the Lordship of Jesus, and instead to declare our trust and faith in the final authority of
something or someone else. So, as with the original first century readers of Matthew’s gospel, which of
these two communities appeals to you or describes you? This is the great timeless challenge in this
morning’s Gospel passage.
It describes us and the dilemma we have. Because in each moment of their lives all people, including
us, witness through thought, word and action, as to who is Lord of their lives.
We forget at our peril that the last great parable in Matthew’s Gospel, that of the separation of the sheep
and goats (25:31-46) shows no doctrine on which to have signed off and given assent to, but only asks if
we disciple ourselves upon Jesus by loving the hungry and thirsty, welcoming in love the stranger, and
restoring dignity to the naked and the prisoner.
And at the end of this morning’s gospel, Jesus does not tell us to convert people. We are not told to get
people to sign off on a dotted line on a doctrine or a set of beliefs. Rather we are told to make disciples;
that is, to teach and enable people to become like Jesus, loving like Jesus, giving like Jesus, and forgiving
like Jesus. We can only teach and enable others to make Jesus their Lord, if this is authentically how we
ourselves live.
Who, then, is your Lord?
It’s an important question to sit with and reflect upon. For our answer will directly determine the kind of
disciples we make, in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, or as Paul puts it in our Epistle,
through our direct experience of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit; that which has been with us, and will remain with us all, through till the end of the
age. Amen.
Steve Jarvis
6
PCC report: Tuesday 19 May 2020
The effect of lockdown on Holy Trinity Parish finances was the key focus of discussion
during May’s PCC.
The latest meeting was held for the first time via Zoom - video and audio conferencing
technology - which enables groups to virtually gather, to talk and see each other.
Treasurer Mike Warrillow told PCC how a thorough analysis of the financial situation had
been carried out, with the stark conclusion that income would be dramatically down if
the lockdown measures continued.
“The short-term outlook is one of eating into our reserves at the rate of twelve to thirteen thousand
pounds per month. Looking ahead to an easing of restrictions, there would be implications for worship
and visitors, with restricted opening times for our church and shop. Either way our income generation
will be severely dented this year, leaving us with no choice but to make some tough decisions.”
Mike addressed this cash flow forecast: “If we continue as at present, we will be around ninety
thousand pounds down by the end of 2020.
“In addition to the responsibilities to our own inside, we also have obligations outside through the
annual Parish Share* - to support our Christian brothers and sisters in other Deaneries. We, therefore
need to think carefully about how we balance both and honour each fairly, in a time where our
income is significantly depleted.”
Against this background, PCC voted in favour of supporting a Standing Committee proposal to seek to
reduce the Parish Share to £113,424 this year, £24K less than the original schedule.
PCC also voted against servicing the organ at this time, at a cost of £56,195.
* Every Parish in the Diocese of Coventry contributes towards the cost of Parish Ministers
PCC also heard how the two other churches in the parish were in a similar financial position.
Luddington All Saints’ income was down and would need to use its reserves, while St Helen’s is
already in a deficit position.
Envisioning worship post-lockdown
Reverend Patrick Taylor explained how Standing Committee were planning for a future return to
worship in the church buildings in three phases:
1. Short-term: planning for now
2. Medium-term: for the coming months
3. Long-term: what will worship look like in the future?
Patrick acknowledged there would be fewer available clergy, (retired clergy are all over seventy and
not allowed to lead worship at present) and outlined that the focus at present is on one act of worship
in the parish, ‘live-streamed’ to reflect different styles across the month, with three principles:
simple
encompassing whole range of styles
involving as many people as possible
Associate Vicar Steve Jarvis confirmed that those not able to access services on-line had been offered
booklets, people to pray with them over the telephone, and given the national service free ‘phone link
to a daily service.
cont…..
7
PCC report cont…..
News in brief
Parish Operations Manager Andy Winter reported that Ian Meeson had left his position as Church Team
Leader at the end of April. All other employees had been furloughed, with the exception of Children
and Families Minister Phil Harper, and himself.
Standing Committee is meeting weekly to review COVID-19 updates from Government, Church of
England and the Diocese and to take decisions based on the advice.
The parish weekend away has been cancelled but the speaker Sandra Millar remains booked to come
to Stratford on 9-11 October, with a proposed ‘Weekend at Home’ instead.
PCC approved a role description for a volunteer Parish Archivist.
The next PCC meeting will be held on Tuesday 7 July 2020.
****************************************************************************************
Smiling is Infectious
by Spike Milligan
Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu,
To appreci-
When someone smiled at me today, I started
ate the
smiling too.
I passed around the corner and someone saw my
grin,
When he smiled I realized I’d passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile, then I realized its worth
A single smile, just like mine could travel round
the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it
undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick, and get the world
infected!
8
FROM THE REGISTERS MAY/JUNE
Christenings
Weddings
Funerals
26 May Patricia Butler
8 June Helen English
11 June Steven Martin Shuttle
18 June Ann Thelma Williamson
27 June Brian Miller - Ash Burial - funeral on 17 April
9
The Christian’s Approach to Death
In his second article, the Rev Canon Andrew Dow suggests how a Christian’s faith can help in the face
of the shocking number of deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The promise of life after death based on the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a wonderfully
reassuring truth, but it does raise a host of difficult questions. For
instance, where is this “heaven” Christians talk about? How is
everyone going to “fit in”? And how will my great aunt who only
knew me as a five year old stripling recognise the balding, wrinkled
crab apple that is now me?
The Bible, God’s Word, does not give us definitive answers to all
these questions, but it does give some strong hints based on divine
promises. Shakespeare put these words into the mouth of Hamlet:
“The undiscovered country from whose bourn, no traveller returns, puzzles the will.” (Act 3, scene 1)
Hamlet, you are not quite right! One particular traveller has returned: our risen Lord Jesus Christ, so it
is worth looking at what he taught about heaven, or life after death.
Perhaps his most well-known teaching comes in St John’s Gospel, chapter 14, frequently read at
funeral services:
“In my Father’s house are many mansions (or rooms, or abiding places).”
Theological scholars have puzzled over what Jesus really meant by “many rooms”. Was he talking of
different grades of bliss or levels of attainment in the Father’s house? Or did he mean that there are
stages on the way, with the possibility of progressing to higher spiritual development?
Personally, I would set aside both these interpretations, for the simple reason that there is scarcely any
hint elsewhere in the New Testament of some kind of celestial finishing school – in fact, the opposite:
God’s heaven is - well, heaven! No more or less. Read Revelation, chapter 7, verses 14-17.
So what did Jesus mean then? The simplest explanation is surely the best: heaven is as big, or
“roomy”, as the heart of God himself, wide open to all sorts and conditions, welcoming to all who
have put their trust in his Son, regardless of any worldly status or achievement. And as for the
concept of “house”, that speaks reassuringly of security, and family, a place of profound belonging.
No wonder Christians often speak of a believer’s death as “going home”.
So when a Christian dies, do they go straight to this house, and if so, are they then consciously in the
presence of their welcoming Lord and Saviour? The Scriptures are wisely ambivalent, refusing to give
us humans, so schedule-dominated, the kind of exact timetable we crave. Instead, death is
sometimes referred to as “falling asleep”. This is how St Luke describes Stephen’s death (Acts 7: 60)
and how St Paul refers to some recently deceased followers of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 15: 6) It’s a
powerful metaphor, and goes some way to resolving the tension between “heaven” as an immediate
gift, or later. Think of it this way: it’s possible to travel right across Europe by night sleeper train. You
go to bed in France, fall asleep, and wake up in Switzerland or Italy. You have passed into a totally
different country, and the process has taken several hours; but for you, it’s happened in an instant,
with no hint of a long wait, or boredom! A picture of the Christian’s death, perhaps? At one level, a
long sleep over the course of time (safe in the Father‘s mansion) until Jesus winds up history, reveals
himself in glory, and gathers his people together for the mother of all house parties! At another level,
however, no hint of some conscious wait in a spiritual limbo.
There are so many things we don’t know about life after death; but there is
one simple thing a Christian can know: heaven is being with Jesus. “I will
take you to be with me,” he says (John 14: 3). As Covid-19 continues to
prowl, let’s draw strength from our Saviour’s promise!
10LEST WE FORGET –
OUR NATION’S HOSPICES IN THIS COVID-19 CRISIS
You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not
only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die. – Dame Cicely Saunders
On 28 April BBC 1 News at Ten reporter Ed Thomas gave a rare insight into the plight of our hospices,
which continue to receive scant attention from government and the media during this Covid-19 crisis
and are in urgent need of financial support to remain open:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/52447451/coronavirus-the-hospice-staff-
working-through-a-pandemic
In response to the crisis, Roy Lodge and I started Just Giving Crowdfunding Hospice appeals
simultaneously a few days before the Shakespeare Birthday weekend, but without realising what the
other was doing. The 2020 Birthday Celebrations – virtual only this year – are now behind us, but the
very real crisis in hospice funding is largely unacknowledged and will remain at crisis point throughout
the Covid-19 emergency, so both appeals remain open for much-needed donations.
Roy is raising funds for our own Shakespeare Hospice:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/roy-lodge-cycles
I’m supporting the national Hospice UK Covid-19 Crisis Appeal:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/shakespeare-birthday-celebrations-covid-19-hospice-appeal
It turns out that we are each motivated by youthful encounters with St. Christopher’s Hospice while
training, Roy as a doctor and I as a State Registered Nurse.
Anyone who has ever heard of Dame Cicely Saunders will have some idea of the
very courageous pioneering work she did in the field of palliative care. She was
already a Christian nurse and medical social worker when she qualified as a
doctor, with the daunting ambition of changing the world’s view of dying and
addressing the need for compassionate end-of-life care, with support of the
bereaved relatives left behind. In 1967, she established St. Christopher's Hospice,
in Sydenham, SE London, where she challenged the attitudes of the medical
profession to pain relief and palliative care. It's entirely due to Dame Cicely that a
world-wide hospice movement has developed, including the Shakespeare Hospice
in Shottery.
I first became aware of her while I was working, with my friend Chris Likeman, as a student nurse in
London, on an acute surgical ward at St. George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner. Patients died on our
ward, often in very distressing circumstances and a great deal of pain, at a time (in the late 1960s)
when relatives were sometimes informed, but the dying remained in ignorance of their imminent
death, and no-one, including ward staff, was offered any support. Consultants kept their distance,
reluctant to acknowledge failure when they lost a patient; the rest of us, in close contact with the
dying, did our best, but we floundered - student nurses and medics alike received no training in
palliative end-of-life care, and our best was clearly not good enough.
Escaping for a few hours from the confusion and helplessness
we felt on our ward at Hyde Park Corner, Chris and I visited St.
Christopher's on one of our rare shared days off; we made the
journey south of the river more in desperate hope rather than
expectation that we would discover a compassionate way of
caring for the dying. We were totally unprepared for the
overwhelming sense of tranquillity, love and peace that
pervaded St. Christopher's, and the calm acceptance of the
patients there, whose average stay before dying was only two
weeks.
cont…..
11Lest We Forget cont…..
Their pain was controversially, but very effectively, relieved by oral diamorphine (heroin) with dosages
expertly gauged to leave them lucid and able to communicate with us about the truly tender loving care
that all nurses aspire to give, and that here, in their last days and hours, these men and women really did
receive. There was none of the fear or agitation that we witnessed in our own patients dying in pain at
St. George’s. At St. Christopher’s they faced death cherished and at peace.
All this is now thankfully the norm in our hospices, but back then it was a revelation.
In addition to the chaotic approach to death on our wards, we struggled with erratic DNR-Do Not
Resuscitate – instructions, which were neither clearly nor consistently communicated by doctors to the
nurses who were supposed to follow them. We were castigated for resuscitating patients who ‘should’
have been left to die, or conversely for not resuscitating those whose lives were deemed worthy of
preservation. As lowly student nurses we had no say in these decisions, nor did the patients themselves,
or their relatives. Having been so moved by our visit to St. Christopher’s, Chris and I wanted to tackle
this situation; with the encouragement and blessing of our St. George’s Chief Nursing Officer, Dame
Muriel Powell, we wrote articles for the Nursing Times exposing the DNR dilemma, which was not
confined to our own London teaching hospital but was, viewed retrospectively, a national disgrace.
Mercifully, as with palliative care, times have changed; DNR is now often discussed openly with
patients and their relatives; their decisions are usually respected and ward staff have clearer guidance.
A decade later, I had returned to teaching English, my degree subject, at Sydenham School, a 1700-
strong girls’ comprehensive close to St. Christopher’s. Each Christmas, the staff went carol-singing
around the neighbourhood to raise funds for the hospice, where we finished our tour, singing for the
patients and staff we were keen to acknowledge and support. Later still, living in Irvine, California, I
trained as a hospice-at-home volunteer at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic hospital, where the extraordinary
nuns who taught us used the Myers-Briggs personality classifications to open our eyes to the differences
we would encounter among patients in their approach to life and to death; they also radically viewed
the behaviour of the psychopaths and criminals among us as an expression of those dangerous and
destructive urges that are in all of us, but that we ‘respectable’ citizens suppress and refuse to own. They
challenged our notions of ‘self’ and ‘other’ and taught us how to be silent, how to listen and how just to
be there – a vital lesson advocated by Dame Cicely herself.
In 1997, this last lesson in just being there enabled me to watch by my 94-year-old mother’s bedside as
she died, not in a hospice, but on a geriatric ward at Thameside Hospital; in her last days there, she
received the same tender loving care from the nurses as at St. Christopher’s, but some of the younger
doctors still had an unrealistic ‘operate at all costs and ignore the wishes of the patient’ mindset and
struggled with pain control. My sisters and I resisted the pressure to persuade our mother to consent to
an operation that she categorically didn’t want, and we waited sadly for the end. I was at her side for
most of her last few days, and in the morning of the day she died, she said to me, ‘They thought I was
going to go last night, but I wasn’t ready’. The hospital chaplain and I prayed with her later that morning
and she seemed to find comfort from our prayers, though she was ostensibly still ‘not ready’. I was
devastated, therefore, when a short while later, I returned from a ten-minute trip to the hospital car park
to feed the parking meter, to discover that she had died, alone and un-noticed by any of the staff, while I
was away.
For years afterwards, I felt a huge burden of guilt, not only that I had failed her, but that I had let the rest
of the family down, because they had relied on me to be with her at the end. I have to thank Dame
Cicely once again for relieving me of that guilt. I heard her on the radio some time before she died
herself in 2005, talking about the death of her own 94-year-old husband at St. Christopher’s in 1995;
like me, she had not been present at the moment of his passing, but unlike me, she understood that this
is not uncommon, that the dying frequently make the choice to die without family members being
present and will wait until they have gone away from the bedside; others, like my mother, will choose to
die altogether alone, without either family and hospital or hospice staff at their side.
cont…..
12Lest We Forget cont…..
This is now well-recognised by those working in palliative hospice care, but it needs to be better
communicated and understood both by relatives and those caring for the dying in other settings,
particularly during this current Covid-19 crisis. Sadly though, hospices remain the Cinderella service of
our national social care provision; their voices are being ignored when we are so much in need of the
wise counsel and support they can offer, both to bereaved relatives and to distressed and exhausted
hospital staff during this vicious pandemic. It’s estimated that hospice care nationwide costs £2.7
million per day, and they have received minimal government support in the past; despite a £200 million
cash injection at the beginning of April they remain heavily reliant on the efforts of volunteer fundraisers
like Roy and me to stay afloat financially – a source that is normally augmented by numerous
fundraising activities in the summer months, but which has now all but dried up and is unlikely to
recover, even if measures to ease the current lockdown continue to be introduced over the coming
months.
If we can make just a small contribution to keeping our hospices open and able to do the wonderful
work that they have so selflessly continued to do throughout this Covid-19 emergency, Dame Cicely's
memory will have been honoured. She died peacefully herself at St. Christopher's in 2005.
Sandra MacDonald
***********************************************************************************************************
Some of the participants of the Zoom coffee morning on Sunday 14 June.
13Pedalling for the Shakespeare Hospice
Faced with the prospect at the beginning of the lockdown of how to enter
into a daily rhythm and routine to keep sane and healthy I made the
decision to cycle every day for ninety minutes plus to raise funds for the
Shakespeare Hospice. This was not a difficult decision since I was
already planning in my mind what major long distance ride I was going
to undertake this year for the hospice. Since being Mayor in 2006/07 I
have undertaken a major annual ride for the hospice and so riding during
lockdown meant that I was simply bringing this forward with a similar
challenge of endurance.
I set myself a target of covering approximately 900 miles (the equivalent of cycling from John ‘O’ Groats
to Land’s end) and on course to raise in the region of £3,000. This involved cycling every day (with the
occasional rest day) to different parts of the Stratford district embracing Halford, Shipston, Alderminster,
Pebworth, Welford on Avon, Bidford on Avon, Wootton Wawen, Snitterfield, Loxley, Wellesbourne and
Alcester.
At the beginning of the lockdown for a number of weeks it was like cycling on Christmas Day with no
traffic to speak of on the roads and a cyclist’s paradise. I was meeting fellow cyclists from all directions
plus numerous joggers and walkers. Cyclists and pedestrians had regained supremacy on the road
network.
This was not, however, to last for long as restrictions began to lift and motorists returned to the roads
with a vengeance, and in many cases using the roads as if they were on a Formula 1 circuit. From
experience this is when you have to have your wits about you. The road brigade says, that on major
roads you can expect some “near misses”. This was my experience especially negotiating with traffic on
roundabouts. The cycle lanes on the arterial roads offer some safety and security but one can still feel
intimidated by the proximity and speed of traffic which is frightening. In some areas the cycle lanes are
not always continuous and often covered with surface grit. I did, however, survive the ninety two days
without a puncture. For the whole journey I found my mind focused on the traffic, avoiding pot holes,
uneven drains and grit, with a constant awareness of how vulnerable you are. Occasionally you could
take in the countryside views and on the whole the weather was generally benign. At times every
muscle in my body was straining, sweat stinging in my eyes, breathing more than I ever have, almost
needing a ventilator! Drawing on hidden reserves of energy and shovels of grit, you are the engine of
your machine that requires finding a rhythm that suits you. There is, however, something about the
rolling rhythm of cycling which is irresistible. At eighty two years old you have to ask yourself. Why do
it? For fun, for a challenge, out of interest, escaping the boredom of lockdown or for a charity? Well
having competed in athletics at international level and in the pre Olympic squad for the 1968 Games I
am grateful, despite having undergone brain surgery in 1974, that I still have that competitive strength,
determination and grit to put to a cause that is so dear to my heart – the Shakespeare Hospice. Why do
it?
Firstly, like most charities the hospice is suffering a shortfall in its revenue to support the vital services it
provides, such as advice on pain and symptom control, complimentary therapies, counselling, spiritual
care and diversional therapies. Secondly, it only receives 11% of its funding from the state and is in
urgent need of funding for PPE while Covid-19 government help will not cover 100% of its costs. The
third reason is a personal one from having a lifelong interest in palliative care since training as a medical
student in London and on a placement at the St. Christopher’s Hospice where I met the late Dame
Cecily Saunders regarded as the mother of the modern hospice movement – she chartered new
approaches in techniques for treatment of the terminally ill, based on her Christian belief that no human
life, no matter how wretched, should be denied dignity and love.
cont…..
14Pedalling for the Shakespeare Hospice cont…..
Cecily Saunders knew that when we come to die, we may experience two kinds of pain: physical
pain ,which in most cases can be effectively controlled by the expert use of modern drugs; and a less
easily controlled spiritual pain (what she called “soul pain”) where ones very identity seems to be
disintegrating and where one needs to be heard and reassured that life has made sense and been of
value:
“You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life” was Cecily Saunders
constant theme.
My support for the Shakespeare Hospice is therefore based on a lack of strategy, a lack of impetus, and
a lack of sustainable funding for high quality end-of–life care in England. There is a need for the
adoption and implementation of a strategy that makes high quality end-of–life care a national priority.
It is simply not acceptable to be surprised that people die.
We are all on the same journey: let us make it together, to the very end.
Rev. Dr. Roy Lodge
*****************************************************************************************************
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15WINDOW ON THE WORLD
Seventy-five years since the end of World War II. We did our best, in the last edition,
to celebrate VE day – just as many did on the day itself, despite the restrictions they
faced. And all the more passionately because of the parallels between a war and a
pandemic.
The two are by no means identical, though NHS frontliners must often have felt the similarities. But one
thing unites them, and that is the psychological damage that follows, and can last a long time. As (just) a
“war child” myself, I am aware of how difficult it must have been for parents in the later 1940s to bring
up children normally. Some had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. Many had faced separation
anxiety from loved ones on active service. To create stable, loving families out of such a background
must have taken all that they had got, and often a good deal more.
The poet Philip Larkin famously wrote “They mess you up, your mum and dad….But they were messed
up in their turn” (though he used a rather ruder word than “mess”). I wonder how many of us still bear
the scars from that.
For some of us, perhaps, lockdown has given an opportunity to reconsider the influences that have made
us what we are. To be personal for a moment, I remember how much my own emotional development
depended on my grandmother rather than my parents. When she died, just as I entered my teens, I was
bereft. What saved me was that I was emotionally “fostered” by another, younger family in the church. I
clung to them like a leech. It was only when I left home to go to university – an experience which may
not be at all the same for many in the rising generation, with online-only lectures and so on – that I was
really able to start growing up.
I have often expressed in this column my concerns about the generation gap. It may well be a good deal
wider now that it was then. But if, for me, the church was the place where that gap could be bridged,
then so it can surely be again. A place where young people may, if they need them, safely find
supplementary or substitute “families”.
One place where young and old work particularly closely together is the choir. Getting our choir “on
song” again is vital, not only for our worship and our outreach, but for the huge opportunities for personal
growth which it offers to our young people (and to the adults who sing alongside them). There are other
opportunities also. To take two examples, bellringing (a long-forgotten skill) played a part in my own
story, and Trinity Players does so for a number of young people today.
St Paul wrote powerfully about how the Body of Christ can “break down the wall of division”. In his
situation, that wall was between Jews and Gentiles. Today, there are many other divisions, but that
between young and old is one that seems particularly relevant.
I hope that we adults can (wherever safe opportunities arise) be as patient with our young people as that
family was, who demonstrated the love of Christ when I clung to them like a leech. Growing up has
never been easy, not in recent times anyway. Now, as we hopefully move into a new post-pandemic
world, it will be harder than ever. It is surely part of the mission of the Body of Christ to heal the
“messes” and the scars.
16NEWS FROM UGANDA
Our new Mission Partners had barely landed in Arua - Uganda when their lockdown began. Tom,
Verity, Ezra, Eli, Simeon and Joel have sent their latest report of life in Uganda
Hi Everyone,
We’ve somehow been in Arua now for just over two months, the majority of which have been spent in
some form of lockdown. As I’m sure will be familiar for many of you, the days here have been passing
by in a bit of a blur and even though we can’t really go anywhere, it’s a bit hard to account for where
the last couple of months have gone!
Uganda has been in lockdown since 30 March with the following restrictions: no handshakes or hugs (a
big thing in this part of the world), no public transport carrying passengers (ie cargo only), no private
cars allowed on the roads (unless an approval sticker for key workers etc), nationwide curfew 7pm to
6:30am, no gatherings of more than five people, the closure of all non-food shops and non-food
markets, no religious gatherings, no exercise outside your home.
The first of these restrictions came in before there was a case confirmed here and taking strict measures
so quickly seems to have worked, with a recent community survey confirming that there is no
significant community transmission of COVID at all. There have been over 200 confirmed cases of
around 20,000 tested, 95% of whom are truck drivers screened at the border. There have been no
deaths at all as yet.
Whilst this is great news to be celebrated on the one hand, we are also acutely aware of the impact of
lockdown on communities here. Access to hospital and health centres (normally relatively easy on a
motorbike taxi (aka boda)) has become very difficult. Boda drivers are afraid of being beaten for
carrying passengers and one boda driver was recently shot dead, in the South of the country, by an
apparently rogue security officer when carrying a pregnant lady. Not only does the transport issue
affect people who are acutely unwell, but it also places a barrier to
those needing to go to the health centre for HIV services, antenatal Enjoying Simeon’s Birthday
clinics and other more routine health issues. Add to this the loss of takeaway during lockdown
income for hand-to-mouth workers, the increased food prices and
the high levels of deprivation locally and you can easily see why
the lockdown itself will be causing significant problems for so
many people in the poorer communities. We pray for wisdom for
those in power as they try to strike a balance between the strict
measures working so well to avoid COVID in the community and
the damage caused by the prolonged lockdown.
Although arriving in Uganda at this time has made the transition
more complex, we are so thankful to God for getting us here at this time. It’s been frustrating for Tom
that he can’t get stuck into work, but having him around at home to help the boys as they struggle to
adjust to life in a new culture has been an unexpected benefit for all of us. Ezra has found the move
particularly difficult and his mood volatility has been hard to manage at times. The boys have all really
enjoyed getting to spend extra time with their Daddy - or ‘agun’ as Joel wanders around the house
calling after him.
We’ve settled into a bit of a daily rhythm of homeschooling in the morning with the older two while
Tom is usually engaged in playing some kind of make-believe game involving Paw Patrol or PJ Masks
with the younger two. The boys don’t always come to school with great eagerness to learn but the
routine has definitely been helpful for us all. Both boys loved their school and classes back in the UK
and we were so grateful for the work of their teachers. It took us a while to come round to the idea of
homeschooling here but we’re so thankful that we have a resource package we can follow each week.
It’s been a real joy to see the boys getting really excited and engaged in certain lessons- favourites are
currently English and Geography, as well as science lessons with Granny via WhatsApp. Ezra has a
fantastic imagination and when we can get him to sit still and focus for long enough, to write the words
down, in the middle of his constant fidgeting and beatboxing, he’s produced some great work. Eli’s
been joining in for a good number of the lessons and currently has a bit of an obsession with
homophones!
cont…..
17News from Uganda cont…..
Life here is much more communal than in the UK. We have our doors and windows open all the time and
life is lived much more in the public eye. Noble, our watchman, lives on site as he’s not local to Arua and
we have a lovely local lady, Milly, coming for a few hours Monday to Friday to help us round the house,
arriving sometime before 8am. Whenever we leave the compound, we are watched as we walk along and
often have people peering in through the perimeter hedge just to see what we’re up to. People seem to find
it especially entertaining when one of the boys (usually Simeon) decides to have a screaming fit, as children
here don’t really cry. We know that they aren’t being offensive or rude, it’s just part of the culture here but
it’s something we’ve had to pray for grace and love for as it’s not easy to deal with.
The position of our compound is an interesting one and we’re praying into how God wants to use us in this
specific place that he’s provided to be our home. On one side we have welders and mechanics, at least a
few of whom chew Khat - a leaf stimulant drug, local to East Africa - through the day causing them to get
louder and more uninhibited as the day goes on. On the other side we have a carpenter’s workshop and a
few little shops, one of which has a bench at the back, bordering our hedge, where people hide away to
drink alcohol. The owner has a large speaker which blasts out music to attract customers anytime from
6am and often, bizarrely, starts especially early on a Sunday morning, broadcasting hymns and a church
service from one of the local radio stations. The front of the house is bordered by one of the main roads
into town, with a motorbike station and forest opposite, where a group of men gather to smoke some kind
of drugs through the day.
None of this seems out of the ordinary though - these things just seem to be an accepted part of life here
and we feel very safe where we are. The position of our compound means we don’t have to go far to meet
people and begin to make connections. There are a good number of little shops up the road, leading to a
local market where we’re getting to know some of the sellers. We know a lovely lady, Mauri, who owns a
shop outside our house and her mother, Zilipa, who is often in charge and speaks no English, which has
been great for practising our Lugbara. We go out most days for walks along the dirt roads, in the
neighbourhood behind our house and are getting to know some regular faces as we become familiar with
the area. Having a baby on my back or small person in tow is a great ice breaker as they love babies and
small children here.
Our new swing has provided hours of
entertainment (and a fair few arguments
too) during lockdown.
Prayer points
Wisdom for how to engage positively with our neighbours and share God’s love with them.
Continued peace for us all as we settle into life here.
Wisdom for Tom in how to spend his time in lockdown, dividing his time between language learning,
being with the boys and preparing for the medical role.
Daily-filling-up with God’s love and grace as we interact with the people around us.
Thanks for David and Heather looking out for us and for the few missionary families we’ve met locally
who’ve welcomed us and have children similar ages to ours whom they can play with.
cont…..
18News from Uganda cont…..
I was challenged this week when I was talking (complaining) to Milly about the monotony of life here
at the moment, that every day is the same and we can’t really ‘do’ much. I realised she had no idea
what I was talking about – from her point of view we have so
much to be thankful for and the relative stability is a good thing -
no-one is ill, we have money to buy food, she has a job to go to,
we are blessed with children and a lovely home. This idea of our
identity being so wound up in our daily accomplishments and
what we ‘do’ is something we are learning to let go of, instead
trying to grow in our identity as children of God and bringing our
Clare boys
boys up to know his love.
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers– we are so
grateful to God for all of you and we really do love to hear from
you and pray for you in return. Clare boys
Blessings,
Tom, Verity, Ezra, Eli, Simeon and Joel
Talking to Children about Death and Dying
In three short months the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our world in ways that few people could have
predicted. More families will be affected by the death of someone dear to them. Many of us have
become aware of large numbers of people doing vital jobs, many with young families, dying at a younger
age than we once expected. Even the biblical ‘three score years and ten’ seemed like a relatively short
life until 2020 and Covid-19.
It’s a cliché to say that in the 21st century it’s easier to talk about sex than death, but that has to change.
For adults involved with children, whether family members or teachers, it’s partly driven by the desire to
protect children from the harsh reality of death or from being hurt by it. It sometimes feels safer to say
nothing than to risk making things worse by saying the wrong thing. Saying nothing, or deflecting
questions, or constantly trying to take a child’s mind off it, means that they may be left confused. If they
ask questions about the practical physical aspects of death (“what happens to someone’s teeth when they
die?”) they need answers pitched at a level they can cope with, according to age and stage, and
emotional maturity. Not giving answers leaves their imagination filling in the gaps, and sometimes this is
worse, or more scary, than the reality.
Perhaps a few guiding principles can help to give adults confidence to talk to children about death and
dying, to comfort and support them.
1. BeUrsula Russelland straightforward as you can when children ask for information.
as honest
2. Try not to fall back on explanations that equate ‘death’ with ‘sleep’. It can make children fearful
about sleeping and going to bed.
3. Help children to understand the permanence of death. However great the loss, it is irreversible and
children need to be able to accept this.
4. Reassure children that it was not their fault, that nothing they did could have made it happen.
Neither they, nor anyone else could have done anything to prevent it happening.
5. Recognise that children will not just feel ‘sad’, but will experience a wide range of emotions. Anger,
confusion, denial, exhaustion, defiance, guilt, anxiety, are just a few of them.
Dr. L Willetts
19Why Does the Devil Have All the Best Music?
Well, he doesn’t, just listen to the wide range of wonderful music played in
churches all around the world. How many of us can’t wait for the time when
we can again sit in church hearing the choir and organ in full flow? But what
about rock, pop and other genres of music not written specifically for the
church. Is there room for faith amongst the Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll?
Well, as Phil pointed out in last month’s magazine, the lyrics of The Byrds’
‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ are taken directly from Isaiah.
During the lockdown, I’ve taken the opportunity to listen to a lot of music, using a
popular streaming service. Not only catching up on some old favourites from the
past but dipping into the back catalogues of some of my favourite acts, listening to
albums I’ve never heard before (hands up anyone who can honestly claim to have
listened to Bob Dylan’s entire extensive back catalogue). Listening to Dylan’s
album ‘Shot of Love’, I came upon ‘Property of Jesus’. Dylan’s rasping voice
spitting out the powerful lyrics over the driving rhythms of his backing band:
‘Go ahead and talk about him because he makes you doubt,
Because he has denied himself the things that you can't live without.
Laugh at him behind his back just like the others do,
Remind him of what he used to be when he comes walkin' through.
He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone’
This got me thinking about other faith inspired pop and rock songs. Most
people will have heard Cat Stevens’ moving version of ‘Morning Has Broken’,
accompanied by Rick Wakeman’s wonderful piano playing. But have a listen
to ‘The Meeting’, with the wistful singing of Jon Anderson (of Yes) accompanied
by Rick’s sublime piano.
Some songs are overtly religious, such as prog rock’s
Barclay James Harvest’s ‘Hymn’ (1977) or Van Morrison
and Cliff Richard – ‘Whenever God Shines his Light’. But
others are not so obvious and are somewhat ambiguous.
My favourite love song of all time is probably Van Morrison’s ‘Have I Told You Late-
ly’. But then, on learning that Van the Man is a committed Christian, I thought ‘what
if the song is really a love song to God?’. Listening from that perspective brings a
whole new meaning and power to the lyrics. From the disco era, listen to
Donna Summer’s hypnotic version of ‘State of Independence’. If you are lucky
enough to find the remarkable 1985 live version, recorded in Los Angeles, as the
song builds to its climax, Donna shouts out John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world …..’. It makes the
hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
cont…..
20Why does the devil have all the best music? cont…..
I have to admit that I am not really a lyrics man and am generally more interested in
the instrumental parts of a song. I can’t count the number of times I listened to U2’s
‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ before, hearing the live version
recorded in a church and accompanied by a gospel choir, on their Rattle and
Hum album, I looked up the lyrics:
‘You broke the bonds
And loosened the chains
Carried the cross of my shame, of my shame
You know I believe it’
Bono, a committed Christian, did admit that he wasn’t exactly sure what it was he was
looking for, ‘but it did kinda fit the music’.
I’m absolutely positive that there are many, many more great faith inspired songs out
there. If this article inspires you to go out and investigate for yourselves, please let me
know what you find. Then we can finally put to bed the myth that the Devil has all the
best music.
Paul Lageu
*****************************************************************************************************
SLEEPING BELLS
by Jo Langford
Walking by the church,
I looked up at the whitewashed tower.
White doves flapped and fluttered,
Jackdaws croaked and crackled.
And I could almost hear those bells,
Rustling, whispering in their metal cage,
Photo: John Burgess
Impatient to get moving.
Stretching cramped limbs, yawning,
Humming complex methods under their breath,
Yearning to shift, to sway,
To swing, to turn circle
In joyous abandon, and signal
To the world that they were free.
Wait awhile, be patient.
That time will come.
Until then, spiders stretch their silk
Over clappers and headstocks,
And slumbering sleep returns.
Jo, who is a member of our bell-ringing team, tells us "I've been ringing bells since I was a Girl Guide in
Cheshire. When I moved to Stratford-upon-Avon in 2003, I heard the bells and was
reminded that I could always find friendly faces in a ringing chamber."
21David Ellis ~ FINDING FAITH
IN THE CARIBBEAN – 3
Exploring the Caribbean aboard the little schooner,
The Amazing Grace, carrying provisions to six tall sailing
ships, we now reached Nevis. It was early morning when we sighted
its mountain tops hugged by white clouds like snow which allegedly
inspired Columbus to name the island Nieve (‘snow’ in Spanish).
We walked the gangplank to the ship’s launch and then had to wade
ashore carrying our shoes!
Nevis
A minibus whizzed us round hairpin bends up to the Montpelier
Hotel, once a favourite holiday spot for Princess Diana and her sons
and originally built as the owner’s house for a large sugar plantation. Nevis was for some time the first
point of arrival for the African slaves before their dispersal to suffer the brutal treatment of enforced
labour throughout the Caribbean. In 1788 when the sugar crop failed some four-hundred slaves died
of starvation on the Montpelier estate.
Nearby stands the Fig Tree church where Horatio Nelson married Fanny Nisbet, widow of a Nevis
physician. The young Nelson was then a sea captain defending British interests against increasing
American competition and was known for his opposition to abolition. For him the emancipation of
slaves threatened the collapse of an enormously wealthy industry and he didn’t take kindly to clergy
who defended them. We wandered freely in the Montpelier gardens, among abundant poinsettias
which make their own silent memorial to the sad injustices of the past. Ruins of the windmill and the
sugar boiling house remain.
Christus Victor
Many of the churches on Nevis immortalise the slaves. St James’ Church was the
first in the world to exhibit the crucified figure of Christ as a black slave, causing a
scandal. That figure is now replicated in other churches on the island as Christus
Victor, arms raised aloft and wearing the crown of glory as the divine liberator.
The comparative ease with which the African slaves embraced the gospel is
remarkable. Maybe what appealed was the promise of heaven and that they
identified with the Old Testament story of the liberation of the Israelites. The
theme of crossing the Jordan into heaven was soon taken up in their spiritual songs.
Already in the 17th century the Anglicans had established five wooden-built
churches on Nevis, later rebuilt in massive chunky stones. The ruins of Cottle
church remain, with neither roof nor doors. This
was the first church where slaves and their masters worshipped
together, effectively the very first act of desegregation in the
Caribbean. It was built by English planter Thomas Cottle for his
family and his beloved slaves to worship together. A plaque on the
rear wall lists the names and ages of all the slaves in the
congregation, ranging from 4-years-old to 79. The ruins are still a
popular venue for weddings of mixed race.
Cottle Church The Anglican Church in the Province of
the Caribbean is spread through eight
dioceses with newly appointed Archbishop Howard Gregory presiding from
Jamaica and maintaining an active concern for social justice where the
fragile economy depends so much on tourism and the banana trade. Archbishop Howard
Back on The Amazing Grace after a very full day we found that one of the Gregory
tall sailing ships, the Polynesia, had moored alongside for the transfer of supplies.
Once again it was a case of walking the narrow gangplank to go on board to admire the mahogany
décor and the polished brass fittings and to look up through the towering rigging to the blue sky and to
enjoy the sharing of ‘rum swizzles’ with the adventurous young people on board before we ourselves
set sail once more into the setting sun.
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